While teams across the world are preparing to take off for the Tokyo Games, let’s take a look at some of the star-studded rosters representing the United States.
Basketball
Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard headline the 12-man basketball roster seeking its 4th consecutive Olympic gold medal. Bam Adebayo (Heat), Bradley Beal (Wizards), Devin Booker (Suns), Jerami Grant (Pistons), Draymond Green (Warriors), Jrue Holiday (Bucks), Zach LaVine (Bulls), Kevin Love (Cavaliers), Khris Middleton (Bucks) and Jayson Tatum (Celtics) take the remaining spots on the All-Star roster.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich leads the USA coaching staff with assistance from Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. The USA Men’s National Team will tip-off their five-game exhibition series against Nigeria on July 10 at 7 p.m.
In the hunt for an unprecedented seventh straight gold medal, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team will seek a historic 49-game Olympic win, dating back to their 1992 bronze medal game.
Team USA veterans Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird will team up with ascending players Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson. Play is set to begin on July 25 and conclude on Aug. 8 with the gold medal game.
Gymnastics
The United States’ 2021 women’s Olympic gymnastics squad will include five first-time Olympians.
Simone Biles will lead the Games’ team competition alongside Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum. Individual competitors Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner will join them. Additionally, four substitutes will travel to Japan. Lee, the first Hmong American to compete in the Olympics, is on the rise. Lee, despite being hampered by an ankle ailment that slowed her over the spring and left her limping at times during the national finals earlier this month, may be the best gymnast on the planet other than Biles.
The men’s team is headlined by Brody Malone, with Sam Mikulak, Yul Moldauer, and Shane Wiskus accompanying him. Alec Yoder will take the individual spot.
The women, the stars of USA gymnastics, are expected to take home the team gold this year. The men have not won a team medal at the Olympics since 2008, and it will be a longshot for them to break that streak in Tokyo, given how strong the Russians, Chinese and Japanese are.
Tennis
Coco Gauff will headline the U.S. Olympic tennis team for Tokyo after the top two women and top three men declined spots. Gauff, 17, is joined by Jennifer Brady, Jessica Pegula, and Alison Riske in singles. Nicole Melichar and Bethanie Mattek-Sands are the double-only picks.
Most notably missing from this list are Serena and Venus Wiliams. Serena, although qualified, declined the option to play while Venus, a 4-time gold medalist, didn’t qualify for singles and wasn’t invited for doubles.
The U.S. men’s singles team is Tommy Paul, the only outright qualifier, followed by Frances Tiafoe, Tennys Sandgren, and Marcos Giron, who moved up to fill the vacant spots. Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek are the doubles players.
Track
The U.S. Olympic Track & Field team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games has been finalized, with a mix of veterans and 81 first-time Olympians ready to compete in the red, white, and blue.
Team USATF features 13 defending Rio 2016 medalists, six reigning 2019 World Champions, and eight defending NCAA Division I Champions in 2021. Five-time Olympian Allyson Felix (400m) and 44-year-old Abdi Abdirahman (marathon) are among the experienced stars, who are joined by 19 collegiate first-timers. Erriyon Knighton, a 17-year-old prep standout from Riverview, Florida, who went pro after his junior year of high school in 2021, is Team USATF’s youngest athlete.
The USA trials and lead up to the Olympics hasn’t been without its share of controversy. The country was certainly divided on their reaction to hammer thrower Gwen Berry. While on the podium Berry turned away from the American flag as the Star Spangled Banner played. Then U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was suspended from the team after testing positive for marijuana.
Swimming
The USA’s Swim Team will be taking 11 teenagers out of their 53 swimmer roster to the Tokyo Olympics Eighteen-year-old Torri Huske, whose mother is Chinese, looks like one of the rising stars of the U.S. program.Simone Manuel became the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming at the 2016 Rio Games made the team for the 50-meter freestyle but didn’t qualify for the 100-meter freestyle. Natalie Hinds became the first Black swimmer to qualify for this year’s Olympic team when she finished fourth in the 100-meter freestyle, locking hinds out of that competition.
Skateboarding
For the first time ever, skateboarding will be included as an Olympic sport at the 2021 Tokyo Games. Joining the inaugural team will be Zion Wright, 22, has been well-known in the skateboarding world since he was a teenager and has earned himself a spot as one of 6 men on Team USA’s roster. Also on the team is Nyjah Huston, one of the most popular skateboarders known as a kid for his dreadlocks and rastafarean upbringing, will compete as a street skateboarder. Wright will compete in the park competition, the style that’s inside what appears to be a big board.
Fencing
Curtis Mcdowald will headline a loaded fencing roster for Team USA. McDowald, a first-time Olympic fencer, is only 25 but brings the grit, passion, and personality the rest of the roster misses. The six-footer from Jamaica, NY not only rules the strip, the small rectangular space where fencers compete, but he also commands the attention of the club and the sport as a whole.
Judo
Colton Brown, 29, punched his ticket to Tokyo by being the highest-ranked American in the men’s 90-kg. division, at No. 28. He advanced to the second round at the Rio Olympics, but he has gained more international experience and worked on becoming stronger and more technically sound since then.
“In 2016, I made the mistake of thinking this process would be easier than the last one,” Brown wrote on Instagram. “Although the last 5 years have been full of chaos and uncertainty, it made me realize how much I actually love the journey.”
For the complete list of Team USA Athletes visit https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/tokyo-olympics-101-team-usa-qualified-athletes